The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Guzmania plant, botanically known as Guzmania sp. and referred to by the cultivar name ‘Holiday’.
Guzmania is native to tropical America. Leaves of the Guzmania are usually formed as basal rosettes which are stiff and arranged in several vertical ranks. Guzmania have terminal flower spikes of panicles which are often bracted with petals united in a tube about as long as the calyx.
The new Guzmania is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lithia, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Guzmania cultivars with a plant habit appropriate for container production, desirable flowering habit and inflorescence coloration and good postproduction longevity.
The new Guzmania originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in Lithia, Fla. in March, 1996, of the Guzmania sp. cultivar Ultra (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,221 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,563), as the female, or seed, parent with the Guzmania lingulata cultivar El Cope, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Holiday was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Lithia, Fla., in May, 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new Guzmania by off-shoots in a controlled environment in Lithia, Fla. since Jul. 7, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Guzmania are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations. Asexual reproduction of the new Guzmania by tissue culture done in a laboratory in Sebring, Fla. since September, 1999, has also confirmed that the unique features of this new Guzmania are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.